Compassion International

While in India, I will be connecting with Compassion International to visit some of the projects in the Chennai area. I was blessed with the opportunity to visit three projects in the Dominican Republic in 2006 and cannot wait to visit projects in India.

Compassion's work in India began in 1968. Currently, more than 107,700 children participate in 440 child development centers. Compassion partners with churches to help them provide Indian children with the opportunity to rise above their circumstances and become all God has created them to be.

It is a remarkable experience to witness the extreme poverty that so many of the world's families live in. The living conditions of the poorest of the poor in our country do not compare to the conditions these families endure every single day. It is amazing to see the work of Compassion's local churches and to see the hope for a future that they provide to each and every child which then trickles down into their families and will in turn permeate their towns and villages until real change takes place.

One thing I remember from my Dominican Republic trip was how much all of the kids loved candy! So I went to the Dollar Tree and stocked up on bubble gum and candy that I could take with my during my visits.

After signing up to sponsor a child in Uganda in May, there was some paperwork that got mixed up and it turned out that our child was actually taken by another sponsor. I found this out yesterday and the operator asked me if I would her to find me another child to sponsor. I took the opportunity to sign up to sponsor a little boy in the Chennai area. Usually, visits take 6 weeks to coordinate, but I am hoping that I will get to meet him while I am there. I'm waiting on his information packet in the mail and then I will post his name and photo.

Visit http://www.compassion.com/ to learn more and sign up to sponsor a child!

We got our backpacks!

CORRECTION: In a previous post, I inadvertently said that we got a light pink camera bag to match our backpacks. Brian's backpack is most definitely NOT pink. He wanted me to clarify that point.

Here are our awesome backpacks. I shopped around a lot and saw some really cool backpacks, but the problem was they cost over $200. We got these pretty things on eBay for less than $35 each. They are laptop backpacks and have a hard back, but air cushioned padding on the straps and outside back panel. There are so many little compartments and it will be great for our travels. The pink one I'm modeling is mine, not Brian's!

Target Shopping Trip

Our Canon Powershot 10 megapixel A480 came in the mail! I tested it out while shopping for a camera case. Brian wanted functionality, but I won out with functionality and style! The case is black with light pink to match our Swiss Army laptop backpacks we ordered on eBay last night. It has a pocket for the camera and extra pockets for memory cards, batteries, etc.

While we were at Target, we also got started with out India shopping by getting all of our over-the-counter meds. We got Immodium, antacids, Sudafed, Dayquil, Nyquil, ibuprofen, Tylenol, Tylenol PM, Neosporin, Benadryl, and some other stuff.

We also got some bug spray wipes. The CDC recommends we wear bug spray with at least 30% Deet to prevent mosquito bites that can spread Malaria. I don't like the thought of saturating my skin with that chemical, especially after reading that it seeps into your skin and causes neurological damage. I guess that's better than malaria though. We'll be wearing only 30% and no more- they actually sell 100% Deet which is crazy! They only had one package of wipes at Target, so I'll have to find some more and some spray.

Other items that made it into the cart were combination locks to lock our suitcases while in our hotel and traveling in the country, an around-the-neck ID holder for Brian and a 2GB memory card.

We have lots more shopping to do, but at least this is a start!

We're official!

Brian and I both have our passports and Indian visas so we can officially make our trip!

Indian Lunch #2

Today we went to lunch again with one of Brian's coworkers. We went to Madras Pavilion which had a great buffet with a huge variety. Two delicious highlights of the day were:

- Dosa. Yummmm. This is a crepe with a mashed potato and onion filling that we ate with a ginger chutney. It was delicious and is a common snack you eat in the morning.
- Fresh naan with butter. The owner of the restaurant brought out hot-out-of the-oven- naan and it was soooo good! I could have eaten 10 pieces, but I was so full from the buffet I only had 3!

Cultural Lesson #1

Today, we went to lunch with on of Brian's coworkers, Mohammad. Mohammad was kind enough to take us to an authentic Indian restaurant and show us the ropes of Indian food.
A few things I learned:

• Cheese is called paneer. This is especially important for me as I am lactose intolerant. I will be using the phrase no paneer quite frequently I am sure.
• Indian food is spicy. The food we ate at the restaurant was not spicy at all, but they had toned it down for American palates. Mohammed suggested we definitely ask about spiciness before ordering.
• Indian foods have different names in different regions. Indian bread, which is like an absolutely delicious pita, is called naan in a lot of places and here in the US, but where we are going it is called something different (of course now I can't remember the name!).
• Most menus at the Indian restaurants we visit will be in English (yay!).
• You are not supposed to eat the seasoning in the rice. You would think if it's mixed in with the rice, you can eat it, but you can't. We'll you can, but it would not feel good after digestion occurs. You are supposed to pick these little seed-like seasonings out. (I can't remember the names of these little things either).

Here's a few items that we got to try at our lunch:

MUTTER PANEER


What is it?
A dish made with peas and cottage cheese cubes in a curry sauce.

Meghann's rating:
Interesting combination of flavors and textures that will take some getting used to, but pretty good overall. I think would have liked it better if was spicier.

TANDOORI CHICKEN

What is it?
Chicken marinated in yogurt, lemon juice and spices that is cooked in a clay oven to give the chicken a distinctive reddish-orange color and a smokey flavor.

Meghann's rating:
Delicious! It's BBQ chicken without the sauce. I would have preferred it a bit spicier again, but Mohammed mentioned that this dish is typically very spicy in India.

ALOO GOBI

What is it?
Cauliflower and potato in a curry sauce

Meghann's rating:
Pretty good; curry will be an interesting flavor to get used to. Cauliflower is not my favorite veggie, but I do love anything in a sauce.

Brian's trip

Brian will be departing San Antonio on August 10. His return date is tentatively set for September 16, but will probably be extended.

He gets to fly Sinapore Airlines in Business Class in a luxury recliner. I'm very jealous!

Bought the plane ticket!

I officially bought my plane ticket today. After a lot of research I decided on this itinerary:

• San Antonio (SAT) to Dallas (DFW)
  08/16/09
  5:20 pm - 6:30 pm
• Dallas (DFW) to London (LHR)
  08/16/09
  7:20 pm - 10:45 am
• London (LHR) to Chennai (MAA)
  08/17/09
  12:55 pm - 3:25 am

Return trip:

• Chennai (MAA) to Brussels (BRU)
  09/15/09
  1:00 am - 7:50 am
• Brussels (BRU) to Chicago (ORD)
  09/15/09
  11:05 am - 12:50 pm
• Chicago (ORD) to San Antonio (SAT)
  09/15/09
  6:55 pm - 9:45 pm

There were lots of options on how to get from the US to India. It looks like you could either choose to go through Europe or through Asia or the Middle East. For an English-speaking woman traveling alone, I thought Europe would be my best bet, even though it wasn't the least expensive. I had thoughts of getting stranded in Dubai or Singapore and not being able to communicate with anyone and did not like that option. So, Europe it is.

After I decided on going the Europe route, I got the idea of taking a side trip. I have heard that if you break up a long trip you are less affected by the time change and less likely to get sick. London and Frankfurt both looked like good options - I started to get really excited about the possibly of seeing Buckingham Palace! In the end, because of cost and time, I decided to go straight into Chennai. I'll leave Europe for another trip where Brian and I can explore together.

Many of the flight possibles had long (over 6 hours) layovers and many included overnight stays in New Delhi. On my first trip to India, I just didn't think an overnight stay would be good alone, so I found a flight that goes straight through to Chennai, which is why I'm getting there at 3:25 a.m. That sounds terrible, but what is really going to mess me up is that it will feel like 1 in the afternoon! Poor Brian has his first day of real work the next day, so I think maybe I'll need to take some Benadryl so I don't keep Brian up talking!

I chose all of my seats carefully after some talk over the pros/cons of a window seat vs. an aisle seat. I can sleep anywhere and will surely sleep most of the time on the planes, so we decided a window seat would be best so I could cuddle (Brian's reason :)). Brian pointed out I might have some problems because usually I have to rush to the bathroom, but he said it's OK since I'm small and can crawl over people.

On the long flights overseas, I actually opted for an aisle seat in the middle section. There were over half of the seats available on the flights so my hope is that I can have a whole row of 5 seats to myself and I can make it a bed! We'll see if that works out ... I can dream!

I booked through Expedia and opted for the travel insurance (after my cousin Linda's ordeal with losing her luggage for 3 weeks on her international honeymoon, I knew this was a must!). The insurance also covers medical up to $5000 and medical transportation should I need to get to another city or out of the country up to $15000. I'm looking into getting some additional insurance for medical stuff ... any suggestions?

Now that I have the ticket and the money is gone from our bank account, it's real!

Heading to India!

Brian will be working in India for 6 weeks or so in August and September and surprisingly I don't have any weddings in September, so I'll also be traveling to India for a month-long adventure!

I've traveled out of the country before, but never as a "grown up" and never alone. Brian will be flying out a week before I do with a coworker, so I'll be making the 39 hour journey from San Antonio, Texas, to Chennai, India by myself. It's a little scary, but I'm looking forward to it more than I am nervous.

I'm planning to leave on August 16, which gives me a little over a month to get all of my travel documents in order, make travel arrangements and pack. We also have to make sure our apartment, bills and business are all taken care of while we are gone. Brian and I just finished our to-do list and it is pretty daunting! We have several doctor appointments, major purchases and a lot of little things to do before we depart.

I'll be chronicling my journey here including preparations for the trip, my stay in Chennai, volunteer work I am hoping to do in India, training for a half-marathon while in a foreign county, and all of the wonderful sights and sounds I am sure to see while exploring. Buying a new camera that is small enough to fit in my tourist purse is on my to-do list so I'll have lots of great photos to share as well.

Stay tuned for more on our trip preparations!